


Endless Cycles

by eerian_sadow



Category: Final Fantasy X
Genre: Community: springkink, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-03-02
Updated: 2010-03-02
Packaged: 2017-12-04 22:58:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/716043
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eerian_sadow/pseuds/eerian_sadow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>sometimes the present is just an unhealthy repeat of the past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Endless Cycles

**Author's Note:**

> this actually started writing itself in my head the moment I read the prompt. I’m very pleased with how it all came out.

Title: Endless Cycles  
Author: [](http://eerian-sadow.livejournal.com/profile)[](http://eerian-sadow.livejournal.com/)**eerian_sadow**  
Rating: PG13  
Prompt: March 2: Final Fantasy X - Auron/Jecht's wife; alcohol – grief  
Warnings: heavy alcohol use, implied alcohol abuse  
Summary: sometimes the present is just an unhealthy repeat of the past.  
Word Count: 427  
Author’s Notes: this actually started writing itself in my head the moment I read the prompt. I’m very pleased with how it all came out.

  
She is drunk when he comes to the house to check on them. He is fairly certain he would have been able to tell, even if he hadn’t had extensive experience with the state courtesy of Jecht, but the bottles sitting on the deck give her away before the physical cues. He counts the number of bottles lining the deck rail with a wince; he has no idea how the woman is still conscious.

She turns to him with a clumsy spin as he steps out onto the deck. The smile she gives him is huge, but trembling at the edges, and her eyes are glassy. “Auron, you’re here.”

He nods. “I told you I would be by today. What are you doing out here?”

She lifts the bottle in her hand, shaking it to make the liquid slosh against the glass. “Same thing _he_ always did out here. Doesn’t seem to be helping me any more than it did _him_.”

“Come inside.” He crosses the few steps across the deck to pry the bottle out of alcohol-weak fingers. “You don’t need this any more than Jecht did.”

 _“Don’t say his name!”_ Her rage is as unexpected as the fist she slams into his chest. The tears that follow are not. “I can’t stand to hear it anymore.”

He gathers her close to his chest, holding her tightly with the intent to prevent more punches as well as comfort. “Come inside. You should sleep.”

She doesn’t resist as he leads her back into the living rooms of the boat. The bedroom is dark, the curtains pulled against the ever-present light of Zanarkand, but they have done this far too many times since his arrival for him to need guidance to cross the room. She is limp in his arms as he tucks her under the blanket, and he thinks she has finally passed out.

He crosses the room again, and then leans heavily on the doorframe, wondering if he can ever be strong enough to care for this family the way he had promised to. He almost doesn’t notice when she speaks.

“When does it stop hurting?”

He thinks of Braska, gasping out the last of his life in his guardian’s arms after performing the Final Summoning, and shakes his head. “I don’t know.”

She doesn’t say anything else, so he makes his way into the main room and sits heavily on the couch. Burying his face in his hands, he pretends that he doesn’t notice Tidus on the deck, flinging beer bottles into the sea.  



End file.
